Immunex Races to Meet Demand for Biotech Drug
History
-Bio-tech (combination of biology and chemistry) is a hot arena for potential investment opportunities
-Tremendous potential for new companies seeking to gain a competitive advantage over in market that was still new was not highly saturated with competition.
-Immunex, Seattle based company was the founder of Enbrel, a new found drug that treats rheumatoid arthritis.
- Enbrel had annual sales of $ 750 million
Issues facing Immunex
- Enbrel was a gene based drug that was developed through non-traditional methods
- Bio-tech drugs take longer than traditional produced drugs ( 3yrs vs 5yrs)
- Enbrel was grown from Chinese hamster ovary cells
- Sales and production could have been higher if operation methods were revamped
- Bad forecasting by managers was a key hindrance to Immunex overall success
- Time horizons and uncertainties were also obstacles the company faced
- Drug development takes time; manufacturing plant and product needed to meet FDA regulations/approval before hitting the market
- Immunex should have starting preparing for this initiative earlier.
- Company was not able to prepare because of uncertainty about the effectiveness off the drug and not sure if FDA would grant approval
- Uncertainty caused Immunex not to put a majority of its resources into manufacturing the drug
- Immunex did not want to put a lot of money into a long shot idea.
- Immunex was not able to take advantage of the market; not able to gain a compe ...